If you’ve ever been in a business meeting and witnessed an attendee whip out his or her Blackberry and spend the time text messaging instead of listening, you know the impression bad business etiquette can leave. Or maybe you’ve seen a new hire show up for work with flip-flops and spaghetti straps in a suit and tie atmosphere. There are countless ways you or your counterparts can make business etiquette mistakes, so here’s some tips to help you out. The Protocol School of Washington (PSOW) is sponsoring the 2nd annual National Business Etiquette Week, June 1 - 7, 2008, with tips for recession-proofing your job, no matter what your level of management is. So in honor of the week, consider the following: - E-mail is never private (you don't know who has been Blind Carbon Copied) and lives forever in cyberspace. Never sound angry, condescending or illiterate.
- During business encounters (including social ones) don't discuss 'hot' topics like religion, diets, health, or money.
- A dirty or tattered business card is a 'deal breaker.'
- Make eye contact 40%- 60% of the time, looking directly in-between the eye brows.
- Dress the part by dressing two levels above your position.
- Keep cellphones on vibrate or turn off.
When it comes to business etiquette in the global business workld, it's a different ballgame. Major deals are lost every day because of a lack of cultural understanding. PSOW recalls one client, a huge U.S. aerospace company, was in Saudi Arabia inking a billion dollar business deal. They didn't do their homework and sent the wrong level executive to sign the contract. They had to get a VP on a plane, fly to Saudi Arabia, sign the contract and turn around and fly back to the States. Conversely, as more internationals become Americanized, knowing how business is conducted and how one comports oneself is key. "For the first time in the school's 20-year history, we're booking classes with not one or two but 11 or 12 internationals who need help learning the specifics of business etiquette." PSOW, whose students come from around the globe and work for the Fortune 100, universities, the military and are entrepreneurs who start their own etiquette consulting business, is sponsoring National Business Etiquette Week 2008 to spotlight and reverse the decline in business etiquette and help professionals at all levels behave with more civility and professionalism. |
